We are having a fabulous time in southern Africa! After many plane flights (AMM-CAI-JNB-LVI), we finally arrived in Livingstone, Zambia yesterday around noon! It was amazing flying in because we could see the span of Victoria Falls out the plane window, and even from thousands of feet in the air, the size of the Falls is impressive. It is the largest/widest single sheet of falling water in the world. It is also more than twice as wide and tall as Niagara Falls, to give you some comparison. We were picked up at the airport by the owner of our small boutique hotel (who is a British expat who has basically revolutionized the hotel and hotel entertainment business in Livingstone since the 70's) and went to our nice hotel to relax by the pool for a bit. The staff at the hotel are so friendly and helpful, and are very enjoyable to be around. We went for a dinner cruise on the Zambezi River, upstream from the Falls. Fun fact: the Zambezi is the 4th largest river in Africa, and serves as a border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. We cruised alongside the many islands that pepper the river upstream from the Falls, and we saw a lot of wildlife on the banks of the islands (birds, hippos, impala, warthog etc.) It was very relaxing, and beautiful to see the sunset over the river. 
This morning, we woke up and took a taxi to Mosi-Au-Tunya National Park- which is the park that abutts the Falls on the Zambian side. Mosi-Au-Tunya is the local name for the Falls, meaning "The Smoke that Thunders." This is a pretty accurate description of the Falls, especially at this time of the year. Since it is the rainy season, the Falls are full of water and there is an impressive amount of spray coming off the Falls and blanketing the majority of the park in fine and not-so-fine mist. At times, the mist is so thick that the Falls completely disappear and all you can hear is the roar of the water crashing down. The national park was extremely well designed and well kept up, and allowed us to walk along stone paths on the cliff edge and across a footbridge directly overlooking the falls. This was a very misty walk, and by the end we were drenched. It was a beautiful day, and at every turn and overlook we could see huge rainbows stretching in the spray (including a double rainbow- WHAT DOES IT MEAN!?!?!). We also hiked down through the Zambian jungle to the "Boiling Pot" which is the area directly below/downstream from the Falls and is a whirlpool.
Having been sufficiently drenched and covered all the pathways in the Zambian park, we walked across the bridge that spans over the gorge directly downstream from the Falls and watched people bungee jump and zip line off the bridge. The bridge serves as the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. We walked across the border into Zimbabwe and into the town of Victoria Falls (Livingstones' Zimbabwean counterpart). Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe used to be the major tourist destination to see the falls, but as in recent years there has been more political and economic unrest in Zimbabwe, Livingstone has taken over as the main tourist destination. The economic problems are epitomized by the devaluation of their national currency, which vendors are now selling on the side of the road as souveniers (we saw a 1 trillion Zimbabwean dollar note, a handful of which they wanted to sell to us for $1 USD). We ate sandwiches on the terrace overlooking the Falls at the historic Victoria Falls Hotel, a holdover from the British colonial days, and still with the original architecture and other distinctly British details. On the grounds of the hotel we found this sign:
We thought it was fitting because we came from Cairo and are going to Cape Town after this! Then, we went to Victoria Falls National Park in Zimbabwe. This is an equally well designed park and offers more panoramic views of the Falls. We also got sufficiently drenched on this side as well, so we went on the nature walks through the Zimbabwean jungle and saw a lot of wildlife (Vervet monkeys, baboons, warthogs, birds, mongooses etc.) 
We then went back across the bridge and crossed back into Zambia, and returned to our hotel (spotting a few African elephants crossing the road on the way!) to relax by the pool and have a Zambian feast for dinner. Tomorrow morning, we will be taking a boat to Livingstone Island, which is an island perched just a few feet before the Zambezi goes over the Falls, which is where David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary and explorer who traversed many areas of mid-southern Africa in the 1800s, gazed upon the breadth of the Falls and named it after his queen Victoria. He is a well-loved and revered person here and elsewhere in Africa as he was very vocal against slavery. There are statues dedicated to him on both the Zim and Zam (as the locals refer to them) sides. We are really excited to see the Falls from this vantage point, and we will let you know how it goes!
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